The grant will support PA CDFI Network’s solution designed to help underserved small business owners develop, launch, or grow their businesses.
PHILADELPHIA, P.A., MARCH 19, 2025 – The PA CDFI Network is pleased to announce it has received a $1 million grant through the 2024 TD Ready Challenge, an annual initiative of TD that seeks to support nonprofit organizations developing impactful, measurable solutions for communities within the bank’s footprint. This year, the program sought organizations finding innovative solutions that support underserved small business owners in developing, launching, or growing their businesses.
The Pennsylvania Community Development Financial Institutions Network, known as the PA CDFI Network, is a 17-member backbone organization collaborating to fuel small business growth through access to capital and technical assistance. The TD Ready Challenge grant will specifically support the Drive Your Business program, targeting gaps in services and reducing barriers faced by underserved entrepreneurs. Five CDFIs across Pennsylvania will collaborate using the Drive Your Business program’s hands-on approach to technology, education, coaching and community collaboration with emphasis in bookkeeping practices, access to capital and business growth.
“Evidence shows that the removal of common barriers among underserved entrepreneurs requires a dedicated, long-term collaborative effort. CDFIs are boots on the ground in low-to moderate-income communities and know how to collaborate to help the same client by leveraging resources,” said Varsovia Fernandez, CEO of PA CDFI. “Drive Your Business will lay the foundation for CDFIs to build a technical assistance infrastructure that is supportive of their ecosystem and provides underserved entrepreneurs with the tools, resources, and network needed to effectively plan, start, and grow their business. TD Ready Challenge funds have opened the doors to consistency in collaboration.”
“Community Development Financial Institutions have long served as lifelines for many businesses in need of capital and credit, and as a TD Ready Challenge grant recipient, the PA CDFI Network will continue its critical work supporting entrepreneurs as they drive our local economy forward,” said Rob Curley, Regional President, Metro Pennsylvania and New Jersey for TD Bank. “I am excited to see the direct impact this collective will have in creating opportunities for small businesses to achieve long-term stability and success.”
The TD Ready Challenge is part of the Bank’s longstanding commitment to helping create a more inclusive and sustainable future. Each year, the TD Ready Challenge invites eligible organizations to submit applications that offer solutions to a problem statement that is connected to one or more of the four drivers of the TD Ready Commitment: Financial Security, Vibrant Planet, Connected Communities and Better Health. In previous years, the TD Ready Challenge has focused on helping to address barriers to affordable housing, driving more equitable health outcomes and addressing pandemic-related learning loss.
A full list of TD Ready Challenge U.S. grant recipients as well as more information about the program can be found here.
About The Pennsylvania CDFI Network
The Pennsylvania CDFI Network (Network) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization formed by a coalition of seventeen non-profit community development financial institutions (CDFIs) that provide affordable loans and technical assistance services to companies that cannot access financing through traditional channels. The Network collaborates on local, regional and statewide initiatives that support small businesses. In 2023, the Network’s collective loan portfolio was $815,559,000, with $190,242,000 in loans closed on the same year statewide.
About The TD Ready Commitment
TD has a long-standing commitment to deliver on its purpose to enrich the lives of its customers, colleagues and communities. TD’s corporate citizenship platform, the TD Ready Commitment, focuses community giving and colleague engagement in four areas that we call the Interconnected Drivers of Change: Financial Security, Vibrant Planet, Connected Communities and Better Health. Through the TD Ready Commitment, TD aspires to work with nonprofit and community-based organizations to help make a positive impact for the customers and communities we serve.
For further information about the TD Ready Commitment, click here.
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Press Contact:
Phoebe Coles
PA CDFI Network
Phoebe@CommunityMarketingConcepts.com
267-226-3492
Natasha Brown
TD Bank
Natasha.Brown@td.com